Got a flat tire - how to use Porsche tools?
 

OK, so I got a flat and had some issue with the Porsche tools. The jack I more or less figured out, but how exactly do you take the lug bolts out?

There seems to be 2 pieces in the tools, one that connects to the lug, and a handle that goes through it. Is that it? I used a lot of force and I could not get the lug nuts to budge, but it was much easier with a regular lug wrench.

Did I do something wrong or are those Porsche tools just kind of a bad and inferior to the lug wrench?

You can't be serious - surely the average person can loosen a wheel & change a flat tyre without posting for help on the internet.?
This has got to be a setup.....

No, the original tools don't have much force to them. A socket and breaker bar work much better for removal, esp if they have been on for a while or some tire jockey has over torqued them. There should also be a 6" rod that's threaded on one end. This is the tire guide. You screw it into the hub and then guide the wheel into place. Not an easy job hitting the exact lug hole locations if you don't use the guide.

Porsche remedied the wimpy lug wrench situation in the 987 - they replaced the spare tire and tools with a can of goo and a wimpy air compressor.

The stockade lug wrench is only adequate if the bolts are not over tightened. 96ftlbs is the spec, but tire shops often over do it. I was doing the rear brakes on a
Jeep Grand Cherokee last week that was so over tightened that it cracked my 17mm socket. It split right down the side...

Are you suggesting that there's a problem that Ronnie Johns might be able solve?

At least you have a spare tire! My 2009 comes with an over-glorified can of fix-a-flat in a styrofoam holder. If I have to use it, a replacement will cost me $900. Plus the new tire.

During a road trip I had a flat in the middle of Nowhere Oklahoma, a can of fix-a-flat would have been of no use, the sidewall was cut from the wheel rim to the tread.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/Flat1358700764.jpg

I had taken my car in for a balance 2 days before, and they over tightened the wheels. It was also 25 degrees!

Rocks on the parkway, ripped right through my front tire - rock was about the size of a brick. Good thing this car has a spare.

The tools in the kit will likely be inadequate to remove the wheel bolts if they have been overtightened, which they invariably are when a shop with impact tools works on your car.

Whenever I have tires removed at a shop, I always check the bolts, they are usually way over spec. They were so tight once I couldn't break them with a three foot breaker bar and had to take it back to the shop to have them loosen them with the impact wrench and then re-tighten with my torque wrench, and the mechanic still gave me the stink eye.

The nerve of you... asking the tire jockey to actually use a torque wrench. I do not believe (m)any are trained to use such a complicated device. What were you thinking?

Just kidding... I once got the stink-eye too for asking exactly the same thing. Funny how they all seem to use an air impact like it was an Uzi.

Too much MW3.

A good reminder that the Porsche tools are of minimal capability and usefulness. I usually keep a small tool kit in the front trunk that includes an 18" breaker bar and lug bolt sized deep socket.

Oh, yes, this scenario did occur to me when I first opened the frunk. :(

I really don't know what Porsche was thinking when they took away the spares. I believe the 911's don't have spares anymore either.

So suggestions would be:

Even if your car didn't come with a spare see if you can fit one. My gt3 didn't but the spare from a turbo did the job.

Throw the supplied wheel brace in the dumpster and buy yourself a good quality 18mm deep socket and 18" arm. Practice standing on it to loosen your wheel nuts - even if they are correctly torqued they can still be a bastard if they are hot.

Do not let anyone do the final torquing of your wheels beside yourself.

Porsche bilt everything supplied in our kit down to minimum weight with very little regard for whether it would actually do the job of changing your tire. When I bought my latest GT3 I picked it up in Boston and blew a rear tire outside Buffalo NY on my way home. Cost me a full day while I waited for a new tire to arrive, to say nothing of the lengthy tow and a lot of screwing around. Promised myself that I would always be prepared after that.

Isn't the socket 19mm? I think mine are.

This is a blatant lie.

Nowhere Oklahoma has pothole ridden asphalt roads, and no discernible shoulder to change a flat tire on.

You must have been in the big city. :D

I have 2 boxsters and a C 4 and put a minimum of 10K miles on each one in a years time, and at about 1 set of rear tires on eash every year I have a lot of experience with tires and due to the fact that these new high speed tires are about as thick as a newspaper anyway, I see a good number of flats from rocks and potholes. Of the flats that I have had, none could have been dealt with by the can of flat fix. When I bought my 08 boxster S the first thing I did was get a spare tire for it . No way would I travel without one. On a recent trip into the mountains of west virginia I had a flat on the rear and could not get a replacement tire for several days and was forced to drive ( slowly and carefully ) 300 miles home on the 5 inch spare. Without that spare I would still be sitting on the side of the road playing with that can of flat fix. I do always have an air compressor and a tire plug kit in each car, but virtually all the flats I have had are larger jagged holes that cannot be plugged either If you drive these cars very long, you learn to be prepared with tools and a few choice replacement parts when you go out.

he had to have just crossed the border into oklahoma - his rims and bottom 2/3 of the car are not red yet!

When I go on my solo summer hike in the Rockies four hours west, I eject my mini spare on my 2001 Box and take two winter tires/rims. If I get a flat then I can replace the front or back for temporary use. I could not imagine a later P car with a can of inflator and leaving the city. That is crazy. What was Porsche thinking!

it was about 10 degrees above freezing one night. Tire went down. Get out the spare. Lug tool is not in the car.... I'm near an exit where a friend lives. New phone's microphone craps out. Didn't mattter friend isn't answering as it was pretty late. Can't call triple A. I'm near highway state office where the toll workers hang out so I walk over and see if they have a lug wrench.
They're like "how did you get in here?" I'm like "Through the door". They give me the number to the highway tow service. Well that's going to cost like $300. So I cave seeing no other option that doesn't require dragging a friend out of bed in freezing temps. As I'm waiting for the tow truck a random guy in an SUV pulls over and walks over with a lug wrench...like a nice one. Just then the tow truck arrives I happily tell him to hit the road. The good samaritan guy sticks around until I'm done changing the tire, I offer cash as grattitude he declines.

Lesson learned. I keep one of those X shaped cro bars from the auto store, torque wrench, folding knife, portable tire inflator and a can of that a flat.

p.s.
If I hadn't recently changed the tire on an old Volvo I don't think I would have ever figured out how to use the Porsche jack...

I'm still a little upset there were so many big rocks in the middle of the parkway! It must have come from a construction truck late that night.

Anyone know if a run-flat tire would have been drivable even with a big gash in the tire? Good thing I had the Boxster, because my BMW has run flats - and my Prius has the air compressor thing and no spare!

Like the rest of the car they are designed to be as light as possible & still perform the job they were designed for. Most likely the lugs were overtightened or corrosion has set in. I put a light coating of Anti-sieze on CLEAN lug threads to lubricate & reduce friction. This lubrication reduces the amount of torque needed to fasten & unfasten the lugs. I torque the lugs to 88 ft/lbs. This preparation makes the oem tools a joy to use & helps prevent corrosion later.

I was about 200 miles from Oklahoma City:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1358814406.jpg

Absolutely correct. 18" bar / 19mm deep socket.

Just another question: I'm going to do my brakes, should I put the car in 1st gear, reverse, or neutral when I have it jacked up?


I plan to use jack stands. Do you have to put them on both l/r sides when working on just one side?

So it's safe to say...you were in the middle of Nowhere? :D